Race Report Round 6

The following are the daily updates posted to my blog on www.CDNsuperbike.com. During any race weekend you can visit the series website for daily updates as each race weekend progresses.

I feel a bit displaced right now as this morning I could have dipped my foot in the Pacific Ocean and this afternoon I could do the same in the Atlantic. Thanks to scAIR Canada things went relatively smoothly as we crossed our great country and they even upgraded my flight from Toronto to Halifax to first class. Nice! Notice I'm not complaining about the food for once! What made it even better, and humorous for me, was when Chris (my team mate and boss) got shuffled back to steerage while I sipped on a Perrier. A single tear rolled down my cheek as the stewardess asked for my choice of dinners while Chris got some pretzels a napkin and attitude. Don't worry, I'm over it now.

Anyway, I'm actually quite excited to be in Nova Scotia. Although I hate to admit it, even though I've been lucky enough to travel all over the world, this is my first time here. One would think they should see their own country first. When we were flying in this evening the landscape reminded me a lot of northern BC, which of course I find beautiful so I can't wait to see more tomorrow. This will of course come up quickly as the four hour time change will leave me feeling a little fuzzy I'm sure. We'll take it as it goes.

I have to say the time change didn't seem to affect me as much as I thought it would. Even though I actually woke up at 2:30 AM PST. I got my first look at the track yesterday and have to say I'm impressed. I had heard rumours that Shubie was extremely bumpy, but to be honest I don't find that to be the case. The track is very technical featuring eleven turns, spread out over 1.6 miles, etched into a hillside that offers some exciting elevation changes. It's a very challenging and technical track that seems to suit my style of riding.

Although, with that said, morning practice didn't go as well as I managed to crash in turn one on the third lap. Not exactly what I had in mind as I have now given Dan and the team even more work to do. Well I'm going to cut this short as I need to start helping get things put back together for tomorrow.

Yesterday's crash certainly made for a long day and evening for Dan and the team. With that I have to thank them for all their amazing efforts and I'm sorry that I did that to the bike. The crash itself has left me a little perplexed as the actual cause still remains somewhat of a mystery to me. I had just finished a good lap and wasn't going into turn one with any particular speed when the front just slid out mid turn as I watched our poor BMW catapult off the track and tumble down the embankment. Oh boy. Yet again, thanks to Joe Rocket, Arai & Sidi I walked away without even a bruise to my body - ego not included.

In the end we needed to resort to the backup bike for today's practice and qualifying. We made some progress with the bike this morning with some suspension changes searching for a similar feeling as the "A" bike had previously produced. RIP "A" bike.

Something I haven't written about at this point are the local fans and what a huge part they play with the racing weekend. I've been lucky enough to see and meet fans of racing all over the world and next to the Spaniards I'd have the say the Nova Scotia crowd features more "culture" than these eyes have ever seen. Picture ATV's + alcohol + dust & dirt + alcohol + youthful exuberance. Did I mention the alcohol? If you're a fan of the TV series Trailer Park Boys you might get the image I'm painting here. Racing here is all about the party and these folks certainly know how to live it up.

Qualifying didn't go as well as I had hoped, however, Michael Taylor and I hooked up at the end to push each other to better times. Although we never really got a clean lap we both managed to turn our fastest times placing Mike 5th fastest and me in 7th. Tomorrow's race is definitely going to be a barn burner as we are all within a second of each other. I'm looking forward to putting the gloves on for Sunday's race and banging out fourteen laps.

August 13, 2006

Canadian Thunder - Atlantic Motorsport Park
Race Day

Fortunes can change in the blink of on eye when it comes to racing. Today's events and this weekend as a whole are a prime example for the team and I. Take the first start of our race today when I managed to get a lucky launch from the second row and weasel my way into fourth on the first lap. Unfortunately, my team mate Chris Duff experienced a horrific highside exiting turn five on that lap causing a stop to the race. Thankfully Chris only suffered a small broken bone in his left foot in a crash that could have been much worse.

On the restart I unfortunately got tangled up with my friend from BC, Olivier Spilborghs and I ended up going off the track in turn one only to re-enter in the very last position with a lot of work to do. At the end of the fourteen laps I luckily worked my way up to sixth position but the lead group was well ahead and in a race of their own. The team has had a difficult and expensive weekend of racing but we have to keep a positive outlook on it all. This is racing. Yes we have some motorcycles in need of repair, but both riders are in relatively good condition. - (I stress the relative in my case.) We need to regroup, get a plan for the last round, and like always go after it with everything.

Stay tuned, I’ll keep you posted.

Oliver